A REVIEW of historic child exploitation cases will see 52 cases investigated after victim have come forward.

Operation Marmion was launched at the request of Hampshire police and crime commissioner Simon Hayes.

Now it has been revealed the review has identified the need to investigate 39 cases of child sexual exploitation and 13 outstanding missing persons cases.

Mr Hayes said: ‘Initially due to last six months, it quickly became clear that more cases were emerging as a result of victims having the confidence that their experience would be taken seriously, it became clear that we needed to extend both the timeframe and team to allow the constabulary to respond to these often complex investigations.’

He added: ‘As is the case with other similar investigations being undertaken by other police forces, non-recent cases of CSE are expected to be a growth area for the next four to five years.

‘As we understand more about the scale of non-recent sexual abuse, it will be critical for any lessons learned from the way cases were initially investigated to be taken into account, so that victims feel protected and supported and receive justice as soon as possible.

‘I would encourage anybody who has been victimised in this way to report their experience by calling 101, in the knowledge that they will supported by all of the partners involved.’

The multi-agency review was launched in October 2014 on child sexual exploitation to identify cases of non-recent child sexual abuse and to re-examine earlier investigations.

The team has worked with children social care leads in Hampshire, Southampton, Portsmouth and the Isle of Wight councils.

It has also been supported by Independent Sexual Victim Advisers in the county.